Learning to appreciate and value how God has shaped us can be a very sobering exercise. There is much temptation to be someone that we are not. Day 32 of 40DOP provides great encouragement to recognize your abilities and and discover your gifts. While I agree that one way of discovering your gifts is through experiencing service opportunities, I believe that appropriate stewardship demands that we do better than simply try and see. Rather than simply encouraging people who do not know their gifting, to experiment in different areas of service, I would encourage people to take the time to read about the various gifts mentioned in the scriptures, talk with others about what they observe in you and spend time prayerfully reflecting on how God appears to be leading and guiding you.
Where possible, it is crucial that we allow God's word to shape us and form us - that is how God primarily works through his Spirit in our lives. He is not restricted at all to this but it is the way he has chosen to usually work. Given this, what can we glean from the scriptures about discovering and using our gifts in service.
First, Paul urges that we 'do not remain ignorant about spiritual things'. By this it is clear he is speaking about spiritual manifestations; that is the gifts (1 Cor 12:1, 3-11) The gifts have been given, and Paul wants us to be knowledgeable about this fact. Secondly, 1 Cor 14:1 instructs us to "go after spiritual gifts". The context implies 'go after with intent to use'. Thirdly, Paul instructs in Romans 12 that we should be aware of and serve in our gifting. "if prophecy, then according to the faith given you" etc. If your gift is teaching, then teach! There appears to be an expectation that we will serve in the area of our gifting and that we will become knowledgable about the gifts we have been graced with. In general, we are called to serve and so we should serve with a cheerful heart irrespective of our gifting - if there is opportunity then we serve. But to simply infer that we just start serving and see what happens is to ignore the community aspect of gift discovery and the value the scriptures place on serving within your gifting. It seems to me the most appropriate way for us to be responsible in discovering and using our gifts is for us to serve God church and in the process seek feedback, gain biblical insight, and prayerfully reflect on what I am learning about how God has shaped me.
An attitude of 'try and see' is a good way to have a go and see what God does. If it is the main way we intend to discover our gifting it will be quite limiting. God's word needs to instruct us. How we feel about a ministry experience must be put through the grid of scripture. All this means that we need to commit ourselves to serving and start serving and at the same time we need to be students of God's Word and receptive to God's people and their feedback. It is a discovery package.
The observation assessment tool available from GWAC is a great way to seek insight from family and ministry friends. Getting the considered thoughts and observations of people who are close to you while you are simply living your life for God will begin to point you in the right direction.
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